AimThe goal of this work was to investigate whether the community of avian nest predators shifts from nocturnal to diurnal with changes in latitude. This hypothesis was formulated 70 years ago, under the rationale that longer day length during the bird breeding season at high latitudes increases opportunities for visual predators. Based on other studies investigating the identity of nest predators, we also considered variation in the habitat and nest height.LocationGlobal.Time Period1994–2020.Major Taxa StudiedBirds and their nest predators.MethodsWe reviewed studies that report the results of nest monitoring by video or photograph camera and collected data on the identity of nest predators. We then used the activity pattern of the predator species as a proxy to estimate whether predation events were nocturnal or diurnal. We used multivariate logistic and ordinal regressions to investigate whether the probability that nest predators are nocturnal changes with latitude and habitat.ResultsWe found that both habitat and latitude explain variation in the circadian type of nest predators. In open habitats, nest predation was more often due to diurnal predators at high latitudes and nocturnal predators near the equator. In forests, on the other hand, nocturnal predator activity patterns were more common closer to the poles.Main ConclusionsUsing meta‐analytical methods, we show that predator activity varies across habitats and latitude leading to markedly different consequences of predation for prey. These findings suggest that small‐scale environmental factors such as habitat type can strongly affect and even neutralise larger‐scale, ecological patterns. We speculate that day length might act along with other biotic and abiotic factors to shape the timing of nest predation in birds.

中文翻译：

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巢穴捕食者活动时间的纬度变化是特定于栖息地的


目的这项工作的目标是调查鸟类巢捕食者群落是否随着纬度的变化从夜间转变为昼夜。这个假设是在 70 年前提出的，其基本原理是，在高纬度地区鸟类繁殖季节，较长的昼长会增加视觉捕食者的机会。根据调查巢穴捕食者身份的其他研究，我们还考虑了栖息地和巢高的变化。位置Global.Time Period1994–2020.主要分类群研究鸟类及其巢穴捕食者。方法我们回顾了通过视频或照片相机报告巢穴监测结果的研究，并收集了有关巢穴捕食者身份的数据。然后，我们使用捕食者物种的活动模式作为代理来估计捕食事件是夜间还是昼夜。我们使用多变量 logistic 和顺序回归来研究巢捕食者夜间活动的概率是否随纬度和栖息地的变化而变化。结果我们发现栖息地和纬度都可以解释巢穴捕食者的昼夜节律类型的变化。在开阔的栖息地中，巢穴捕食更多是由于高纬度地区的昼夜捕食者和赤道附近的夜间捕食者造成的。另一方面，在森林中，夜间捕食者的活动模式在靠近两极的地方更为常见。主要结论使用荟萃分析方法，我们表明捕食者的活动因栖息地和纬度而异，导致捕食对猎物的后果明显不同。这些发现表明，栖息地类型等小尺度环境因素可以强烈影响甚至中和更大规模的生态模式。 我们推测，日长可能与其他生物和非生物因素一起影响鸟类巢穴捕食的时间。